Product Reviews

4Last Brando in Paris

Posted: 23/02/2009

Bernardo Bertolucci's controversial film, Last Tango in Paris shocked audiences on its release in 1972, even resulting in police having to seize all copies, but today the film that is available to us credits one of Marlon Brando's finest points in his career and acting talent.The dramatic film follows a middle-aged widower (Brando) coping with the loss of his wife and unusual relationship with an unknown young woman, played by Maria Schneider, in which they do not reveal their pasts and identities to each other.Rather than memorising the script, Marlon Brando is known to be an actor who prefers to read cue cards or improvise his dialogues, and this film is no exception. His dialogue, manner and body language almost exemplify the personal anguish of a widower.On one hand, there is this pain, but on the other hand, an erotic salvation from his grief.

4Hana - Bi, Japanese Art

Posted: 23/02/2009

Hana - Bi is a film by renowned Japanese creator, Takeshi Kitano, in fact it is one of his finest contributions to world cinema. Takeshi's masterful, somewhat languid method acting and an outstanding narration of sound and picture allow Hana - Bi to be a journey of the last moments of life.In this film, Takeshi plays the role of a man taking care of his terminally ill wife, in the last moments she has left. As we might say, sometimes words cannot describe beauty, this is a film of little dialogue, but alternatively, it is a film of a lot of thought-provoking, influential material that one might reflect upon.

5Her eyes in the dark.

Posted: 17/12/2008

For the lovers of thrillers, the classic Wait until Dark offers more than a slice of spine chilling sensation, in its most unique tale. A blind woman must survive and combat against three very 'silent' individuals, that claim to be people acquainted with her husband, after a doll that may be hidden somewhere in the house.Audrey Hepburn gives a credible performance as the pivotal protagonist, who must use her weakness as her most prolific strength. She cannot see, she is vulnerable, wrongly informed...yet she realizes that to survive and overcome this terror she must...make sure...everything is...in the dark.

2dear killer,

Posted: 06/08/2008

Tonino Valerii's 'My Dear Killer' is a decent 'stab' at the infamous giallo genre. The comprehensive story is quite slow, yet still manages to draw you in, anticipating evidence with our protagonist detective, played by non-other than George Hilton.The story is quite intricate, numerous murders are taking place as the killer is trying to rid of any evidence that might lead them to the murder of a father and daughter, although it seems impossible to distinguish the killer, which of course concludes an interesting climaxAlthough not one of the best thrillers, My Dear Killer is worth watching if you are a fan of giallo.

4Please Look Now

Posted: 08/06/2008

Please look now! One of the most classic and authentic intense thriller can be titled, Don't Look Now, by Nicolas Roeg, retaining a cult with thriller fans and a masterpiece by a masterful director.Set in a gloomy Venice surrounding, a well-fit location merging terror and suspense around every eerie turn, leisurely building an unpredictable climax.The story opens with two children playing outside, in what seems to be an English field, while their parents reside inside the house. The father, played by the explosive Donald Sutherland, is working on some photo negatives when he has a strange revelation, to the shock he runs outside and finds his daughter has 'already' drowned.Donald Sutherland's pinpoint expressions and movement, Roeg's perfectionist scenes, bringing even the negligible of objects into focus and anticipation, allows Don't Look Now an original yet unusual thriller, a cinema in itself.Roeg uses paradox as a catalyst, a paradox of a blind woman with uncanny psychic foreseeing vision and the paradox of replacing his dead daughter with...

4Tale of Lost Love

Posted: 15/05/2008

Anwar is not a simple film, nor is it simply a film, but a sonnet of undeclared or assumed love.Perhaps underrated due to a novice cast, the performances between these novice and veteran actors actually are quite good and upheld with excellent camera work and a revised screenplay.Anwar (the character) is a lost soul, at the beginning we see him on a bus, perhaps he does not know his own destination, perhaps his destination has ceased to be.The tale continues with reminiscing past scenes of his love and how the complications of relations overshadow the most delicate of emotions...namely love. Love is not a triumph in his desire, although there is nothing else but love, submitted within him.

3House with Laughing Mystery

Posted: 09/05/2008

Pupi Avati's The House with Laughing Windows is not unlike many giallos from Italian directors, although it does have its own atmospheric depth in terms of story and design.Rather than fast flashes of a butcher knife or other vicious slashing murder sequences in giallos, baseless nudity and sex, Laughing Windows moves away from the cliché and is a very defined slow moving picture with simply it's thrilling story to occupy us.After the haunting intro of a man being tortured, the leading protagonist, Stefano (Lino Capolicchio) has come to a small remote village to restore a painting made by a famous but frenetic painter who has died, known as the 'painter of agonies'. A series of murders commence and there is a haunting mood and ambience surrounding the restorer, many obstacles deter him to unveil the painting...and the truth behind the painting.Although quite slow, the film is worth watching and a credit to the infamous Italian giallo genre.

4The Lisbon Suicides

Posted: 06/05/2008

The Lisbon girls were beautiful, young, but their demise was inevitable from the beginning...this is the fragile tales of the short-lived virgin suicides.Written by Jeffery Eugenides, directed by Sofia Coppola and music provided by French band, Air, this adaptation follows the novel quite closely and Sofia Coppola upholds her strong family cinema value with vibrancy and animation. The electronic languid background score simply breezes along the beauty of the Lisbon girls, they inhale the atmospheric depth, and ironically, the 'life' of the film is within the Lisbon girls.Veteran performers, James Woods and Kathleen Turner play the parents of the girls, who provide the film with crucial character actors. Also including pivotal youngsters, Kirsten Dunst and Josh Hartnett, the film is a graceful drama, a vivid imagination of adolescent dilemmas.

2Unsane or Insane?

Posted: 05/05/2008

Tenebrae, from Dario Argento, comes after acclaimed successes as Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Cat O' Nine Tails, Profondo Rosso and Suspiria, which all established Argento at his peak of cinematic genius and a visual storyteller. These films stood out during the seventies, which in my opinion is a decade that dominated psychological thrillers, giallos and horror films.Tenebrae is a blend of good and bad, the latter slightly more grave compared to good. The story itself, written by Dario Argento is excellent of a murderer following their killing closely to an author's latest thriller novel. The killer is somehow 'inspired' by the writing to kill obvious defenceless women and 'goes by the book', so to speak. The sequence of twists turns and opportunity of 'eliminating' each suspect allows you to explore the killer's identity.Unfortunately, despite coming after such excellent films made by Argento, Tenebrae is not a break-through...a poor selection of background music, below-average performances by some of the actors, poor script and unnecessary abundance of nudity does affect a good story.Compared to Argento's other giallos, this will not be one of your favourites, however it is worth watching and does contain glimpses of excellence.

4La Classique Giallo

Posted: 02/05/2008

Cat O' Nine Tails is an early Italian Giallo thriller by Dario Argento. After the success of Bird with the Crystal Plumage, the psychological thriller passes onto Cat O' Nine Tails and the film, in my opinion, does justice.The film, like most Argento's creations, finds its own niche and cult to follow, by thriller/giallo fans. Argento's fascination and obsession with the close-up of the single 'eye' is magnificent, despite at times the colours or the appearance of the eye suggest it to belong to a supernatural being, but rather it justifies the killer's frenzied intention.The film opens with a blind man walking home with a young girl, overhearing a suspicious conversation in a car near by...this cuts to an unseen suspect, breaking into a laboratory, although nothing is stolen. Why the peculiar break-in? Who was it? Moreover, is this person now behind the sequence of murders that are to follow? A journalist teams up with the blind man, a retired journalist, to unveil the face behind the murders...maybe you can help.

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